Hiking—Our Little Joke!

Today has been great. This morning I slept in and didn't feel guilty about it and I woke up happy, because it wasn't snowing. The first thing I did after getting out of bed was fold up Downer and put him back in the wine cellar with Hazle.

After taking a shower and dressing I put on my new thermal socks on and then I slid my feet into my new, beautiful, pair of hiking boots and laced them up. Then I trekked, over several scattered mounds of dog hair to get to the kitchen. Then I started cooking breakfast for Hank and Forrest Gump, because Tony was close to going outside to start doing our morning chores.

As I drank a cup of delicious Texas Pecan Coffee I cooked Hank and Forrest a pound of sausage with six scrambled eggs, courtesy of The Golden Girls and added a small heaping of grated parmesan cheese and then I added a scoop of our dog's dry dog food, so there would be plenty for both of them to eat.

When Tony looked at their steaming hot breakfast bowl, he sighed and told me that he was hungry, too. I felt sorry for him, so after he went outside to just go feed Forrest and Hank their breakfast, I started gathering the healthy ingredients to make us healthy juices to drink, before he and I went outside to do our chores.

First, I juiced the apples, pears, celery, carrots, cucumbers together and then I put the cabbage, kale, beet, ginger, banana, pumpkin seeds, almonds and chia seeds into Jaws, our Vita-mix machine and then after mixing it all together we each drank two, tall glasses of juice. It was delicious and healthy, but way too much juice to drink. So tomorrow I think that I will cut my nutritious recipe in half. Then Tony and I went outside to feed the rest of our dogs and to clean their pens.

When our chores were done outside we returned to The Cabin. Before checking my e-mail, I put two homemade meatless cutlet patties and the two leftover zucchini Fritt-ins, that Belle had left for us the other day after eating two of them, into the oven to warm. Then I poured a Baggie full of homemade beans into a pot to warm, on the stovetop. 

Then I checked my e-mail. Marguerite is a dear friend of ours and she works part-time at Wild Birds Unlimited, in Kerrville. In the past several years she has adopted three dogs from our rescue ranch: Enzo, Odi and most recently Minnie. Minnie, Little Debbie and Alice are three of the precious, six Chihuahuas that we rescued this past August. Marguerite sent me a picture of Minnie and she wrote:

Minnie loves sunny spots. Just finished stitching a sheet back together that was covering the futon in the photo. I suspect sleeping beauty. It's nice to know I'm not the only one repairing bedding.

I responded:

Hi Marguerite! I am still laughing. Maybe we could have a "quilting party?"

Tony and I ate lunch around 1:30. It was delicious, healthy and this time Belle had nothing to steal off of the drainboard.

Around 2:00, our good friend Rick, in Nicaraugua called and we had a fun visit with him. After we adios-ed each other I went into the bedroom to put on the clothes I wanted to wear for my first official hike, in my awesome Danner Mountain Light Cascade boots. 

Finally dressed and ready to go, I slipped my inspiring Nike+ Fuel Band onto my wrist, then I went to my office to fetch a hiking pole that I had to dust off from years of no use and a walkie-talkie. Then I asked Tony to please come outside to take a picture of Hank and me before we took off for a fun hike.

After Tony shot us, Tony and I turned on our walkie-talkies, did a sound check and then Hank and I took off hiking. 

About twenty minutes later, when Hank and I were sitting on a giant rock together, about five feet away from Big Foot Wallace Creek, I was talking to him about things not always working out the way we want them to and that it was fine, because better things were always just around the corner for us and that he was going to be fine and to trust me about it. Then we heard a vehicle cross over the cattle guard, then all of the rescue ranch dogs started barking. "Someone is driving into the rescue ranch," I told Hank, who already seemed to know that. Then I heard Tony take off in Kermit.

A few minutes later, Hank and I took off walking along the creek. Hank was having fun and he held his tail up high in the air. It was funny to me that he would walk a few feet and then stop, hike his leg, marking rocks, trees, brush, etc. Finally, it made me laugh out loud and that made him wag his tail and we all know that dogs laugh with their tails. So, I knew that this was going to be our little joke, just between friends.

About thirty minutes later, when we headed back to the rescue ranch, I pressed the talk button on the walkie-talkie and said, "Tony, we should be back there in about fifteen minutes or so." Click.

"Great. I'll meet you at Hank's pen and then close the ranch gate. And I've got a great surprise waiting for you." Click.

"What is it?" I asked to Tony's deaf ears. "What is it, Hank?" I asked, as I turned off the walkie-talkie and slipped it back into my vest pocket. Hank looked up at me, wagged his tail and then he hiked his leg, again. "Hank, when I told you that I was taking you hiking—I meant walking." Hank wagged his tail faster. He's got such a great sense of humor.

When Hank and I entered the rescue ranch, we heard Tony start up Kermit and take off, heading our way. I already had Hank put back in his secure, temporary pen when Tony and Kermit arrived. "Our hike was fun, " I told Tony. "What's the good news?"

"I was wrong," Tony said, wearing a big grin on his face. 

"About what?"

"About Cheryl Strayed being a stray that had been dumped by someone. The people came and picked her up to take her back home! And Cheryl was so happy to see them as they were to see her. It was great."

"Omg, this is such wonderful news! It makes my day, totally."

"I know. The nice man told me that she had dug out of their yard and that they have been looking for her ever since and they had been sick about her missing. Today when they went down to the mailbox they found the note that we had left about rescuing her and they immediately jumped into their truck and drove over here. He thanked me for picking her up and rescuing her and he told me that her fence was totally repaired and the hole fixed, so she hopefully will never escape again. I told him that we would pick her up again if we see her out on the highway and he thanked me, again and...."

After hiking with Hank I had planned to go back outside to take pictures of Forrest Gump and to write about him, but I have run out of daylight, so tomorrow I promise to introduce Forrest Gump, another fabulous dog that also loves my cooking, to y'all and I will have great pictures of him to show you, because he is one incredibly handsome dog that will (fingers crossed) be adopted sooner than later.

Well, today has been another great day at the rescue ranch. I am thrilled that Cheryl is back home with her loving family. I love my incredible great hiking boots so much and they are so comfortable. Now, I am fixin' to kick back, sip a glass of wine and try to finish reading Cheryl Strayed's fabulous book Wild. 

Y'all have a great evening!

What A Nice Surprise! or We Love You, Eileen!

Today has been great even though last night I went to bed madder than a wet hen or at least that is the best way I know of describing it.

When I had finished reading another 100 pages of Wild, I was tired and ready to go to bed, so I called the dogs to let them go outside and they all came running out of our bedroom and then went outside to take care of business.

While they were outside I went into our bedroom to fold down the sheets and to my surprise—there was another big hole, at the top of the down comforter, chewed right next to the mending I had previously done and yes, feathers were everywhere to be found.

It made me so mad I wanted to scream, but I didn't. Instead I rolled up the comforter starting at the top, to prevent any further feather-leakage. Then I tossed our cheap, all chewed up fleece blanket over the top of our bed making sure to cover up the birds-of-a-feather comforter, at the end of the bed. Then I brought our dogs back inside. And not one of them looked guilty, as they raced past me to go back into our bedroom.

Then I went down the hall to tell Tony about one of our dogs chewing up the down comforter, again. And while he was defending his dogs Beau and Belle, the dogs started barking, in our bedroom. When I went to the bedroom to see what was the matter I started laughing, because they were barking at the covered up down blanket. I guess they thought there was a person hiding underneath the cheap blanket they had destroyed months ago. After showing them the rolled up comforter, I turned off the light and we all went to bed.

The first thing I did this morning after drinking a cup of H-E-B Texas Pecan Coffee was cook breakfast for Hank. Three eggs scrambled with one pound of sausage, because Tony was fixin' to go outside to start doing the chores and I wanted him to feed Hank first.

While Tony was outside, I took a shower, cleaned up the kitchen and then I got Eileen's "No More Radiation/ No More Cancer" celebration gift sack ready, because for lunch today, the volunteers and us were surprising Eileen, to celebrate her victory with cancer, at the Medina High Point's Koyote Grill. Our small gift was a sauce pot, a sauce mop and a six pack of Guiness Harp beer.

Then I went outside to greet Eileen, Suzanne, Kris & Jim and June, our dear friends/volunteers. I had a fun visit with everyone and I introduced them to Cheryl Strayed and then reintroduced them to Hank, who Tony had told me, "He ate all of his breakfast in just a few seconds and he loved it. I wished that you had saved some for me, because I'm..."

Eileen's "No More Cancer" celebration party was a total blast! Ellen and Jim, and Pam, June and Ellen's sweet cousin, who is Ed Helms, sweet mother, also joined our celebration. Kris had gotten Creative Cakes By Sharon to bake and design a very special No Cancer cake for Eileen and it was as awesome as it was delicious. And the pretty-in-pink, plastic forks, paper plates, tablecloth and napkins, that Kris had also picked up made everything perfect. 

I have taken these pictures to capture our fun time and the reason that Tony and I gave Eileen a sauce pot and sauce mop was because, we knew in advance that Jim was going to share his friend Claude's secret BBQ sauce and rub recipes with Eileen. Which now means that only us three have these secret BBQ recipes. And to say the least when Jim handed Eileen the folder with the recipes, "She was beside herself and more than thrilled to get these recipes."

Tony and I had to leave the party around 1:45, because we needed to get back to the rescue ranch, because we had another dog coming in, from Houston. A few years ago this nice couple had rescued this stray and since then their 93 year old father-in-law had come to live with them and because he was forgetful, etc. and accidentally letting the dog out in the neighborhood, "it was only a matter of time before something really bad happened."

After we got back home, I decided to put our big dogs out in the backyard, so I could once again mend our down comforter, that has recently brought little comfort to me. To reduce the feather-spread inside The Cabin, I had already decided to do this mending, out on the front porch.

The tear that I mended was nearly twenty inches long, and before I plucked it off of our bed, to take it outside, I took these two pictures to show why the comforter had scared our dogs last night.

Don't you love all of the holes aka air vents? And it does sort of look like a person buried under the blanket.

When I finished mending the down comforter, which I've now named Downer, I took it back into The Cabin and put it inside our bedroom closet aka wine cellar. And I plan to every night put it back on our bed and then remove it every morning, to spend its time with Hazel, in the wine cellar.

At 4:24, our dogs started barking. I figured the sweet couple and Gumbo were arriving, but I was wrong.

I was writing this post, so Tony went outside first. Then I went outside to greet David and his wife, but I didn't. Instead I hugged Tony and jumped for joy!

I was thrilled! My hiking boots had arrived three days early and they fit like a glove, if anyone were to put a glove on their foot. The boots also came with an embroidered PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) patch and I plan to sew it onto one of my blue jean jackets, but not today, because I am already tired of sewing.

At 4:58, our dogs started barking, again. This time I figured the sweet couple and Gumbo were arriving and I was right. So Tony and I both went outside to greet them and to welcome Gumbo.

Gumbo is a fabulous, handsome two-year-old male dog. We love him and the kind-hearted couple who brought him to us. Tomorrow I will take pictures of Gumbo, who I've renamed Forrest Gump, because he is starting a new life adventure. And that is about it for tonight, because I plan to wear my hiking boots and plop them up on the coffee table and continue reading Wild. And btw, just so you'll know, I am removing my Nike+ Fuel Band now, because I've already I met my goal of 2,000! Life is good.

Y'all have a great evening 

Wild! or Cheryl Strayed!

Things have been wild in more ways than one. Last night, after I blogged, I went to Amazon and downloaded the Kindle Version of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, because I could not wait to read her true story. This book is a New York Times Best Seller and Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection.

Seconds later after downloading it, I opened up my iPad Mini and took this picture of the cover of the book. Then I spent the rest of my evening reading over 100 pages of the "I can't put this book down." I was hooked by the second page. It is a fabulous read and an incredible story.

During the middle of the night I woke up, not because it was snowing again—I simply woke up. When I turned my head and looked across the bed everyone was sleeping soundly, especially Little Debbie. She looked so cute. She was sleeping, on her side, with her head and upper part of her body resting on my pillow, with the covers pulled halfway up her small body and her little front leg was resting on top of the covers. She looked like a little human being and I had wished that I had my camera, before I fell back to sleep. So it's official that Little Debbie has truly stolen my heart.

Early this morning I got up to do Harley Belew's popular radio show The Harley Show, on REV FM 94.3, at 7:45 and Harley's Pet of the Week was Hazel. Hazel is the sweetest, four-year-old female shepherd mix that we rescued from the Kerrville pound, a few months ago.

After having a fun time visiting with Harley, On-Air, we adios-ed each other. Then I made myself a cup of H-E-B's delicious Texas Pecan Coffee. Then I sat down at the kitchen table, plugged in my Nike+ Fuel Band, that I haven't used for more than a year, so I could charge it and reset it, because I plan to wear it for my new hiking program, that starts as soon as my Danner Light Cascade hiking boots arrive, in four days. 

When it was completely charged, I slipped it on my left wrist and then I did some light house (trailer) cleaning until Tony returned home from The Old Timer. And before I cooked him breakfast I checked my Nike+ Fuel Band and I was thrilled when I saw the number 156, because I had set my daily goal to reach 2,000 points. I only had 1,844 points to go for the day.

Before Tony and I went outside to do the morning chores, I grabbed a Baggie and put a half pound of leftover meatloaf and a half teaspoon of minced garlic in it—then I zipped it close. 

Then I put it inside my coat pocket, along with my camera. Then I went outside to find Tony to find out where I should start feeding the dogs.

Around 11:00, as planned last week, Hank arrived back at our rescue ranch, because his owners had decided to return him to us for personal reasons. Hank is our famous dog that we rescued, in January 2010 and if you want to read about his rescue, escape, etc. Please check out my blog archives, on the side bar, to read these posts: 

     1/6/10 Hank The Cowed Dog!

     1/7/10 I Am Sick!

     1/8/10 Hank Update!

     1/9/10 Knock On Wood! 

When the nice man returned Hank to us, he was feeling so terrible about having to do it. Tony had decided to put Hank in the writing cabin's front yard. Hank seemed nervous about what was going on in the yard. He sniffed Tony and me, but his tail was down between his legs the whole time. As Tony and I petted Hank, to reassure him that he would be fine, the nice man gave us Hank's paperwork, vet records, dog food, heart worm preventative, treats, his crate and then he also made a generous donation.

When I tried to give Hank the meatloaf, he acted uninterested. It was obvious to us that he was scared of what was happening to him, so we suggested that we take him inside the cabin, to hopefully calm him down, while his former owner drove away.

After Hank saw his best friend drive away without him, Tony and I went to work trying to distract Hank and make him feel better about his situation. We took turns sitting on the couches, encouraging Hank to come and sit with us, on the couches. And within forty-five minutes, Hank had begun to lift his tail and wag it and jump up on the couches. In fact, one time he got up on the couch with me and let me hug him tightly, for nearly thirty seconds and he ended up devouring that tasty meatloaf and he wanted more. And while all of this was going, I took some pictures of our returned guest.

While all of this was going on a bad thought popped into my head. "Tony, I want Hank to stay here, but something just popped into my head. Hank is an escape artist and I am afraid that he will try to escape to go back home, because he watches the door and checking out the fences. I hate to do this, but I think for the next three or four days we need to put Hank where Bonnie is, because that pen is escape proof."

"Nance, quit projecting."

"I'm not. Seriously, we need for him to settle in first. Then he won't try to escape. It's for his own good. I'll cook him sausage and eggs every morning just like I did the last time. He loves my cooking, too."

"I know. He loved the meatloaf."

Then I chuckled and said, "I know. He just ate your lunch....Okay, let's switch him and Bonnie out. Then we will go to Kerrville to eat lunch and then buy more dog food and get three pounds of sausage for Hank. We've got plenty of eggs..."

After we had moved the dogs, I called Hank's former owner to tell him that we had decided to put Hank in another, safer pen for the next three or four days and that I was going to be cooking for him. And that I would make him my official hiking dog, until he gets adopted. The man thanked me. Then Tone and I jumped into Trigger and took off for Kerrville. He was starving thanks to Hank.

Our first stop was at Randy & Lisa's Save Inn restaurant. The place was packed as always and we got to have a fun chat with Lisa before we ate our delicious lunch. Then we went to the big H-E-B.

On our way home, as we neared the top of the pass, we saw a dog, in the middle of the highway, that looked scared and lost—tail tucked between its legs, too. "Stop, Tony!" Two minutes later, this big, female puppy was sitting on our front seat—licking me to death, while Tony wrote a note about finding the dog that he stuck on a nearby mailbox.

"She's a stray, Nance. And I bet someone dumped her too," Tony said, disgustedly. "She's a sweetheart though and...." When we got back home, Tony put this sweet, approximately six-months-old pup, in the alley between Miranda Lambert and Merlin. Then we drove up to the house, to quickly unpack the groceries and I took this picture of Hank's sausage, before we went back outside to go feed and water her and take pictures, of this stray that I've named Cheryl Strayed, in honor of the fabulous author of Wild. 

When we got to Cheryl's alley, she and Miranda had already become fast friends, which is good, because maybe, after we get Ms. Strayed vetted, she and Miranda can be roomies. Here are some pictures I took of this sweet girl, who was once lost, too. Please meet Cheryl Strayed!

And y'all, that's about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to grab a glass of wine and start reading Wild, because I love strays. And just so you'll know my Nike+ Fuel Band is up to1,760!

Y'all have a great evening!

Foul Play! or Beau Was Here!

Today has been great, sort of, because of some foul play last night and today. Last night when I went to bed, I fell asleep fast. Around midnight, I woke up because I was cold and Tony was snoring loudly. So I turned on the bedside birdhouse lamp and then I reached down and pulled our down comforter up, that I had neatly folded, at the end of our bed.

Please note that four days ago, I went outside to my pink, writing cabin and fetched our down comforter, that we have never used, because we specifically bought it, three years ago, to be used for our occasional overnight guests. (Rick & Leisa)

Anyway when I grabbed the comforter, it was like magic—snowflakes suddenly filled the air, in our bedroom! It was beautiful to watch, for a couple of seconds, then Little Debbie jumped into my arms, because a snowflake had fallen and was stuck on her one good eye. Then I realized that the snowflakes were feathers—DOWN FEATHERS—Beau was here.

Omg! While Tone, on the other side of the bed, made weird noises and slept through this, the feathers were floating everywhere around the bedroom—thanks to the ceiling fan. So I jumped out of bed and turned it off to stop the perfect storm. Then I went into our bathroom and looked into the mirror. My hair and pajamas were covered in small, white feathers. And when I combed my hair to try to remove the feathers—the feathers filled the air once again, before landing on the counter top, floor, towels, etc.
Knowing that there wasn't anything to do until the morning, I turned off the lights and went back to bed. And several times during the night, I would wake up to brush feathers away from my nose.

This morning Tony and I had a good laugh about last night's snowstorm, because we just can't have nice things—for very long. When I told Tony that his dog Beau had done it, he defended him, until I told him about me seeing Beau sleeping near his soon to be hole, in the down comforter. This morning, for contrast I put a navy turtleneck under the comforter to show Beau's damage.

When Tony went outside to do the chores I got busy mending the comforter and have these pictures to prove it.

Please note Beau watching from outside. And yes, I know it is time for me to Windex that window, again

.

After I mended it by hand and then by machine, I took it outside to shake off the feathers. Then I put it back on our bed. And please note the hole in the corner of my pillowcase.

Minutes later, I went into our bedroom and took this picture of Belle and Roy minus Beau, because I have (temporarily) banned him from our bedroom.

At 2:34 this afternoon, Tony and I went outside, because our friends Marvin and Anise, his sweet wife, that live down the road, were coming over to drop off Baby Huey, their pet rooster that needed a new home, because he was no longer getting along with their other rooster.

While Marvin and Tony carried the cage over to The Egg Palace, to set the rooster free, I had a fun visit with Marvin's wife. We mainly talked about our love for chickens, delicious free-range eggs and names that we had given to our foul friends. When Anise told me to feel free to rename their beautiful rooster, I said, "Well that's good, because I have already renamed him. His new name is Rooster Cogburn." Anise told me that she loved his new name and then we went inside the pigpen, so we could check on Rooster, inside The Egg Palace and I could take this picture of him, before we let him meet The Golden Girls.

The Golden Girls are in love with Mr. Cogburn and he seems to be very happy to be here. So all is good. And that is about it for tonight. 

Y'all have a great evening!